


The City Is At War

by snarkytrickstergod



Category: All Time Low, Fall Out Boy
Genre: M/M, Post-apocalyptic AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-06 06:29:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4211613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarkytrickstergod/pseuds/snarkytrickstergod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When, two years ago, scientists started researching for a cure for a rare type of cancer, no one expected things to go so wrong.<br/>Now, in the middle of a apocalyptic scenario, thousands of people tried to survive. We're gonna focus in 8 of those people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Let's clarify some things before we start:  
> \- Fall Out Boy existed before the apocalypse.  
> \- Brendon and Gabe are completely AU. So no P!ATD or Cobra Starship here.  
> \- Jack and Alex are AU as well. No All Time Low, and Patrick and the others don't know them.  
> \- I'm sorry if some characters (especially Gabe, Jack and Alex) get OOC, I don't know enough of them yet.
> 
> Now you can read.

When, two years ago, scientists started researching for a cure for a rare type of cancer, no one expected things to go so wrong.

The problem started when they decided to use rats as test subjects. Some of the rats had the rabies virus, and when they used the chemicals on them the virus mutated. No one noticed until one day, when one of the members of the research took the rats out of the cage and one of them bit him.

And then all hell broke loose.

The virus reached the nervous system of the infected person and turned him into a monster, a very violent and blood-thirsty one. In a month everyone in the building was either dead or turned into monsters, and the edifice itself was completely destroyed.

It took six months for the virus to spread around the world, with the help of the animals that were contaminated in the process. The apocalypse started.  
People ran away from their homes, desperately trying to find a safe place to stay, but it was useless. The monsters destroyed everything where they passed, and killed anything they saw. Animals, people, even their own species. Hope seemed to vanish for everyone.

And this is where our heroes enter. Patrick, Pete, Joe and Andy refused to run away and became fighters, killing monsters and rescuing the survivors, bringing them to their base, a six-floor abandoned hospital that miraculously survived to the wreckage of the creatures.

They also wanted to find a cure for the virus, because it was their only option of ending this hell. For that, they had the help of Brendon and Gabe, two scientists specialized in virology, and who apparently were great at singing.  
They used the laboratory on the ground floor for their experiments. As the resources were limited, sometimes they had to improvise. But nothing worked, until now at least.

But let’s cut the crap here, ‘cause what you want to know is what they’re doing right now, right?

It’s 6 p.m. right now, and things were calm in the base. There were no monsters to kill, no missions, so the team was chilling.

Andy and Joe were at their room, cuddling and watching TV. They were enjoying this moment of peace, rare in the literal hell they live lately. Finding time to be with your soulmate is hard when you’re in a post-apocalyptic world.

Pete was in the lab with Brendon and Gabe, watching them work. They're talking in scientific dialect as usual, and Pete can’t understand a single bit (“Talk in English, Bden!”), but he’s enjoying the time.  
But soon they stop talking and start singing instead, and Pete thinks it’s beautiful, ‘cause Brendon and Gabe’s voices combined are amazing.

As for the leader, Patrick, he’s on the first floor, playing with the dozens of children on the building. He always had a soft spot for kids, especially the ones who have no parents, ‘cause they’re the ones who need more affection. And he loved to play with them, it was a way for him to relax.  
The kids loved him too, and more often than not came to him when they needed help with something. Also they called him things like “Tricky”, “Stumpy” (which Patrick didn’t like ‘till he heard a little kid calling him that), and “Uncle Trick”.

Tonight, the kids were begging for Patrick to sing something to them. Everyone knew about his career as the singer of Fall Out Boy, and most of the people in the base were fans.

“Com’on, Uncle Trick, we want to hear you sing!” a little kid exclaimed, being followed by a choir of “Please” coming from the other kids.

Patrick laughed. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it! I’m gonna get my guitar, wait a little bit here!”

The blonde got out of the room and went down the stairs, going to his room and grabbing the guitar from its stand.

When he made his way back, he passed through the lab, and Pete, who was next to the door, saw him.  
When he saw the guitar, he got up and made his way out, calling the singing duo.

“Sorry guys, I love to hear you sing, but right now I’m gonna listen to Patrick!”

He ran up the stairs and directed to the room where they were. He could already hear the first chords.

Pete stood at the door, away from Patrick’s sight, and listened to the singer’s voice.

_When Rome's in ruins_   
_We are the lions_   
_Free of the coliseums_   
_In poisoned places_   
_We are anti-venom_   
_We're the beginning of the end_

A shiver went through Pete’s body as he listened to the song. It’s been so long since the last time he heard Patrick singing…

As the song continued the shivers were more intense, and he felt a strong tug on his heart every time he hit a high note.

The pink-haired man didn’t understand why he was feeling all of this. It was just his friend singing. Right?

When he looked into Patrick’s eyes, it hit him. The way Patrick lighted up when he sang, the beautiful smile – a real one, something he didn’t see in months – he gave the children, the way his blue eyes glowed with happiness, and the fact that all of this was making his heart jump it all meant only one thing.

He was utterly, completely in love with Patrick Stump.

Pete went down the stairs, almost tripping, still startled by the sudden revelation. He entered his room and fell on his bed.

So that’s why he felt so happy around Patrick. Why he loved his voice, his smile, everything on him so much.

“Ugh, I’m so fucked…”

 

Night fell. Everyone was preparing to sleep, and the hospital soon fell in silence.

And suddenly, a loud growl shook the building.

Loud crashes were heard a minute later, and the screaming intensified.

The four men ran out of their rooms, with their guns on hand.

“What the hell is going on?” Pete shouted, looking up, where the screaming was coming from.

“I think we have a monster inside the base.” Patrick said, loading his shotgun.

Joe cursed out loud, and grabbed Andy’s hand, and the four went up the stairs.

When they reached the third floor, they found complete destruction. Everything was destroyed, and there were some bodies laying on the ground, completely torn apart and with biting marks. Patrick noticed, horrified, that some of the bodies were of children.

“Son of a bitch!” He screamed with tears in his eyes, pointing the shotgun to a coming monster and shooting.

Everyone started shooting, and the third floor was relatively safe. But the upper two were occupied by monsters, and their number seemed to grow every minute.

Soon they found themselves surrounded by the creatures, on the last floor of the hospital. They shot as fast as they could, but it was obvious they couldn’t get out of this alive.

Andy looked around, frightened.

“How the hell are we gonna survive this?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter is here! Jack and Alex finally make the appearance!
> 
> There will be a line from Brendon that is really confusing. The (somewhat) explanation is on the notes at the end.

The next morning came bloody.

At the last minute, a group of the survivors appeared and shot the majority of the monsters surrounding the team, making it easier for them to kill the others. And now, at the light of the sun, they finally realized the proportions of the sudden attack.

The upper three floors of the base were completely destroyed. At least half of the 1000 survivors were dead, and this not counting the ones who were still infected. Everywhere people cried and screamed in agony.

The four men looked around, taking in the grotesque scenario. Even though they were used to the violence of the creatures, this was still making them fell sick to the stomach.

Patrick threw his shotgun to the ground, making everyone jump. He walked around the room, hands on his head.

“This is my fault. All of this.” His voice was strangled, obviously trying to control himself.

Pete shook his head, walking to him. “No it’s not. Trick, none of this is your fault, don’t blame yourself.”

“How is this not, Pete?” Patrick shouted, tears on his eyes. “I’m the leader of this base, it’s my responsibility to protect everyone in here! I should have prevented this!”

Pete took a step forward, softly grabbing Patrick’s arms. The blonde looked at him, tears finally falling.

“Tricky, it’s not your fault. You didn’t have any way to know this was gonna happen. None of us had. So don’t blame yourself for something you couldn’t avoid.” He said, gently wiping his tears.

Patrick took a deep breath, closing his eyes. When they opened a minute later, all signs of desperation were gone. It was like nothing had happened.

“Better?”

“Yeah.” Patrick muttered. “Thank you.”

“Guys.”

Andy took off his sunglasses, eyes on a strange object on the ground. “I don’t think this belongs here.”

Pete and Patrick walked to the tattooed man, while he picked the thing up by its tail. Joe huffed in disgust.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure this doesn’t belong here.”

“What is a rat doing inside the base? I thought we exterminated all the plagues in here.” Pete said.

“And we did.” Patrick muttered, observing the animal. “This can’t be a coincidence. Let’s bring it to Brendon and Gabe. They’ll know what to do.”

 

Three floors down, there was a tense atmosphere.

“How the hell does a monster even get inside? All the entrances are protected!” Gabe exclaimed, walking around the lab. “And where the fuck are the guys? They should be here by now!”

Brendon was at the microscope, watching some cells.

“Dude, stop walking in circles, you’re making me dizzy!” he shouted.

Gabe stopped and glared at his partner. “We just got attacked by a bunch of monsters, and the guys might be in danger. Now explain me how the hell are you so calm???”

The brunette sighed, raising his head.

“Gabe, I trust them. They’re no children, they’re strong, and I know they’re okay. If they weren’t we’d know by now, anyway. Now sit your ass on the chair and stop acting like a freaking drama queen!”

“Fine, stay there, I’m gonna see if they’re okay!” Gabe shouted, getting out of the lab.

“Gabe, don’t you dare! Gabriel Saporta, get your ass back here!” Brendon shouted, and huffed. Damn, that guy is stubborn as hell.

He got out of the chair and ran after Gabe. He could be an ass, but Brendon didn’t want his friend to get hurt.

Luckily it didn’t take long to catch up to him. Gabe was at the end of the corridor, about to go up the stairs.

“Gabe, stop!” he exclaimed, grabbing his arm. “It’s too dangerous, you dumbass, you might die!”

Gabe seemed to hesitate for the first time, and Brendon took the opportunity to pull him back to the lab. But the 6’4” tall man was heavier than he looked.

“Come on, Gabe, let’s go!”

“But… the guys…”

“They’re fine, don’t wo- Look, there they are!” Brendon said, pointing to the stairs.

The four men went down the stairs, and the duo noticed their distressed faces.

Patrick walked to them. “Good to find you both here. We need you to analyze something for us.”

“Fine, what is it?” Brendon asked.

“This.” Andy raised his arm, showing the dead rat.

There was a loud shriek a second after, and they all looked wide-eyed to Gabe, who had his mouth covered and his eyes wide.

“Dude, what was that for?” Joe shouted angrily.

“Oh… oh my God.” Brendon gasped, looking to the rat and then to Gabe. “Gabe, you…” he started, giggling. The guys looked at him, even more confused. “You’re… you’re scared of rats?”

Gabe blushed madly. “What, no! I just… I’m not too fond of small rodents, that’s all.”

“Dude,” Pete chuckled, “you’re like, 10 feet tall and you’re scared of a little rat?”

Pete and Brendon started laughing, and soon the others joined, even Patrick, who was still a little upset.   
Gabe was all shades of red, deeply embarrassed.

“O-okay, calm down, guys!” Patrick said, still giggling. “Just do it for us, will ya?”

“Don’t worry Trick, I’ll do it.” Brendon said, grabbing the small animal. Gabe stepped back, eyeing the rat.

“Come on, Mr. I’m-terrified-of-rats, we got work to do.”

The duo walked back to the lab, Brendon saying that now he had to ask Dani, one of their assistants, to help him, since the big guy here is too disgusted of a small animal to do it. The group watched them, smiling.

“What a strange duo these two are.” Andy chuckled, and Joe nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, but they work perfectly.” Pete said. “Well, I’m going back to my room. Anyone coming?”

Andy and Joe nodded, but Patrick shook his head.

“You can go. I still have work to do.”

 

Two days after the attack – Pete called it “The Rat Incident” – Patrick and the others were at the lab, after Brendon called, saying he had the results.

“So, what did you find?”

“Well, me and Dani worked on this, since that guy over there refused to.” Brendon started, and Gabe glared at him.

“So we extracted the serum from the rat’s blood to do some quick ELISAs to look for a virus and we had a positive result for rhabdoviridae! This ELISA is sensitive for our monster virus as well, so I did our ELISA that’s more specific for the monster virus – I wanted to make sure if it’s really not a simple rhabdovirus, a replication for a NAAT would be very complicated because the virus has a negative-sense single stranded RNA genome and-”

Patrick interrupted the flow, angry.

“Brendon, start speaking proper English or shut the hell up!”

“He’s trying to saythat the rats were the cause of the attack.” Dani said. “These animals had the virus in them, and when they bit the people they passed it, and they turned into monsters.”

“Well, ‘The Rat Incident’ is becoming a really fitting title for this.” Pete muttered.

“Is there anything we can do to prevent the rats from entering the base?” Joe asked, turning to Patrick.

“I dunno. We’ll find something.” He said.

“Patrick!”

The team turned to the door, seeing a short girl with black and blue hair, wearing cargo pants. She was breathless, like she had run there.

“What’s wrong, Fili?”

“Two people are approaching the base. They’re all bloodied, and I think they’re injured!”

Pete walked to Patrick’s side. “Show us the way, then.”

Fili nodded, and the group walked to the main entrance of the base, and saw the figures.

It was two men. The taller had short black hair, with a part at the side dyed white (“Well, that sure is a strange haircut.” Pete said. “Look who’s talking.” Joe huffed.), and the other had bright blue hair.

They were wearing clothes similar to them, but they were covered in dirt and dry blood. Patrick noticed that the taller man had a big gash on his forehead, while the blue-haired man had his arm on his chest, broken, probably.

“What do we do?” Andy asked, looking at Patrick.

“Bring them in and take them to the lab. They need help.” Patrick replied, turning around and walking back to the lab.

 

Ten minutes later, the two guys were sitting on chairs, with Dani and Fili taking care of their injuries. After a quick exam, they found that the blue-haired man didn’t have his arm broken, just wounded, and Dani wrapped a ligature around it.  
Patrick took a step forward, blue eyes glowing with curiosity.

“Okay, first things first. Who are you?”

The taller man answered.

“My name’s Jack, and this is Alex. We’re from the next town.”

“The next town? But that was completely taken by the monsters.” Pete said.

“I know.” Alex said. “And that’s why we ran away, after…” he trailed off, looking down.

“After what?” Patrick asked. As they didn’t answer, he sighed. “Guys, it’s really suspicious you arrived here, all covered in blood. And you had guns, so you’re obviously fighters. Now, I need to know what happened, or you can’t stay here.”

Jack and Alex looked at each other, and the first took a deep breath.

“Okay, we’ll tell you.”

 

_Two days earlier…_

_The group, consisting of Jack and Alex and their friends, Rian and Zack, were at their hideout, chatting animatedly._

_Suddenly, a loud growl was heard from outside the house, and they fell in silence, grabbing their weapons._

_The growls were louder, and the sound of wood violently breaking was heard a second later._

_“Shit, they’re inside.” Jack cursed, loading his gun._

_“Great, that’s just great.” Rian said, and turned to Alex. “What do we do now?”_

_“The only option we have.” Alex said. “Fight.”_

_They silently went down the stairs, guns in hand, and shot two monsters standing at the end._

_When they entered the room they instantly realized this is going to be hard. There were at least three monsters to each fighter, and they were fast; the probabilities of getting out of this alive were low._

_The fight started, with the four men trying to kill the monsters, and failing the first times. The creatures were too fast, and avoided the bullets with a surprising lack of effort._

_When a quarter of the monsters were killed, they heard a pained scream._

_“Rian!” Alex shouted, running to the body. Zack killed a monster that was ready to attack the blue-haired man._

_He kneeled at his side, checking his pulse. He was dead._

_“No!” he screamed, tears in his eyes._

_“Alex!”_

_He turned around, raising the gun, and shot a monster about to bite him right in the head._

_He got up and hit the creatures, who grew in number due to the hole in the wall._

_Zack ran out of bullets, and took out the ammunition from the bag on his waist. A monster rapidly walked to him, biting him on the neck. He screamed, trying to yank the creature off him._

_“Zack, no!” Jack shouted, raising his gun and shooting the monster on the head. “You son of a bitch!”_

_Alex looked around. There were too many monsters, and their team was reduced to two. There was no way they could win._

_“Jack, let’s get out of he- ah!” he screamed as a monster grabbed his left arm. He could feel the sharp claws craving on his skin._

_He pointed his gun to the left and fired, and the creature removed his hand – claw? – from his arm, falling to the ground. Alex held the arm on his chest, hissing in pain._

_Jack ran to him, pushing him to the door. “Let’s go!”_

_“What the hell happened to your head?” Alex asked, worried. There was a huge gash on his forehead, and it was bleeding._

_“One of those fuckers hit me with its claw. I’m fine, Alex, let’s run away from here before one of us die!”_

_Alex nodded, and stumbled a little before getting out, Jack behind him._

“… and after that we walked for two days, trying to find a place to stay.” Jack finished.

The guys stood in silence. Their story hit them hard; they knew how it was to lose a friend to the monsters.

Alex looked at them. “We found out there was a base in here, and we decided to come in. We want to help, we want to fight those monsters too.”

“We want revenge from the fuckers who took Rian and Zack.” Jack said, venom in his voice.

Patrick looked at them in silence. They sounded honest, and they were fighters, used to battles. And they sure knew how to work with guns.  
The base was running out of people after the attack, they needed any help they could find.

“Okay.” Patrick said. “You can stay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, for the explanation:
> 
> ELISA = enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, that's pretty much THE standard method for any kind of virus. It can be specific for different kinds of viruses  
> NAAT = nucleic acid amplification test, with this test you replicate the DNA of a certain gene to see if that gene is there. You can look for certain viral genes to identify a certain virus.
> 
> If you still don't understand, well, I can't really help you 'cause it wasn't me who wrote this part. Sorry.
> 
> Tell me what you think, please!!!

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first chapter of the series. I hope you liked this.  
> I might update this soon.
> 
> Tell me what you think!


End file.
